Switch especially adapted for third rails for electric railways.



PATENTED JUNE 9, 190s W. A. P. WILLARD, In. SWITCH ESPECIALLY ADAPTEDFOR THIRD RAILS 1 FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS. 7

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11 1901.

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W. A. P. WILLARD, JR. SWITCH ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOB. THIRD RAILS FORELECTRIC RAILWAY-S. APPLICATION I'ILBD NOV 11, 1901 no MODEL. 3 sums-sum2.

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PATENTED JUNE 9, 1903..

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3 SHEETSSHEET 3 UNITED STATES Patented June 9, 1903.

, PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. P. WVILLARD, JR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO PIERRELORRILLARD, JR., OF TUXEDO, NEW YORK.

SWITCH ESPECIALLY ADAETED FOR THIRD RAILS FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 30,810, dated June 9,1903. Application filed November 11,1901. Serial No. 81,895. (No model.)

To (tZZ whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. P. WIL- LARD, Jr., of New York city,county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Switches Especially Adapted for Third Rails for ElectricRailways, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention is especially adapted for use with third-railelectric-railway systems where it is desired to make and break twoadjacent circuits by the one operation, and it will be understood byreference to the drawings, in which there is shown a system especiallyadapted for use with such a switch.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a system embodying myinvention, in which a mechanical movement is used to throw the switchesby which the path of the current is determined, the rails and wiresbeing broken to indicate the fact that the third-rail sections may be ofany convenient or desired length. Fig. 2 is a similar view to illustratea means for throwing the switches by electricity. Fig. 3 is an enlargedView showing a portion of the track and the switch-box, the cover of thelatter being, removed. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of-the switch-boxand switch-throwing mechanism on line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sideelevation of the trackrail and a means attached to the car for operatingthe track instrument, Fig. 6 being a section on line 6 6 of Fig. 5.Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10 are diagrams, which will be described in detail below.

AA are the track-rails, laid on the sleepers A B, B B and B are thethird-rail sections, which are laid upon the sleepers A and may be ofany desiredlength. Each section is insulated from the ground and fromevery other section; but one complete section B is shown in the mainviews, all the sections, however, being alike. Each section is connectedto two switch-boxes, one at each end thereof.

These switch-boxes are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each switch-box (exceptbox 1) contains two switches. The switches are numbered, respectively,12, 21 22, 31 32, and 41 I identical with every other, I shall onlydescribe in detail the construction of one of themfor example, thecontents of switchbox 2, referring especially to Figs. 3 and 4:. Eachswitch 21 22 is mounted upon an insulated stud C, suitably supported inthe floor of the box and in the insulatingeplate D. Each switch turnswith its stud. Each stud O carries a gear 0, located below the switch 2122 and separated therefromby the insulatingplate I). Each gear is inmesh with a central gear E, mounted to rotate on a, stud e, and havingprojecting from its upper surface a series of pins 6.

E is a pushing-pawl which is mounted to slide horizontally, itspushing-surface resting against one of the pins 8, being held inengagement with it by a spring 6 one end of which is attached to thepawl E, its other end being attached to the floor of the switch-box. eis a holding-pawl which engages the rear of one of the pins e to preventany retrograde movement on the part of the gear E and is normally heldin that position by the spring 6 I prefer to move the pawl E to rotatethe gear E in the following manner: Its rear end is attached to thevertical arm of a bell-crank F, pivoted to one of the sleepers A at f,the horizontal arm of this bell-crank being connected by theconnecting-rod F withconnecting-pin f of a pair of toggles F locatednear the track-rail A.

A spring F connected to a suitable block F located between the sleepersA holds the pawl E normally in a rearward position, and the connectionsare so arranged that when .the pawl E is in that position the toggles Fare lifted abovethe level of the track-rail A. A depression, however, ofthese toggles will give to the pawl E the necessary movement to turn thecentral gear Ethrough a proper portion of a circle.

The outer ends of the toggles F are pivoted to blocks F bolted orotherwise attached to the rail structure. The adjacent ends of thetoggles are slotted where they receive the connecting-pin f, sothat'there may be a slight sliding motion between the adjacent ends ofthe toggles when they are depressed.

It will be seen that if the toggles F are placed so near the rail A thateach car-wheel lOO will strike them as it passes they will be depressedand the switches thrown many times during the passage of a train unlesssome special mechanism is provided to prevent it. While such mechanismmay be readily planned, it would only serve to complicate the structure,and consequently, as shown in the drawings, the toggles F are setsulficiently far from the rail A to clear the ordinary running-gear ofthe train, provision being made for depressing the toggles by means of awheel G, of wide tread, which is supported in a suitable journal-box G,carried by the forward truck upon the proper side of the train, so as torun on the track-rail. As its construction is not peculiar and as itsuse does not require a reconstruction of the ordinary form of truckadopted by railroads, except in so far as a hanger carrying thejournal-box must be suspended from the truck, it has not been deemednecessary to show the hanging of this wheel in detail, as it is believedthat any one skilled in the art could without further instructions addsuch a journal-box to a car-truck.

The mechanism above described then operates in the following manner: Asatrain approaches the switch -box mechanisms the wheel G depresses eachpair of toggles F in turn. The depressing of the toggles acting throughits bell-crank F throws the pawl E, connected therewith, which, as it isnormally in engagement with one of the pins e, pushes the gear E througha portion of a turn, thus turning the gears c a through a quarter of arevolution and throwing the switches 21 22, &c., from the positionsshown, for ex ample, in Fig. 3, to positions at right angles thereto,the holding-pawl being pushed aside to allow the pin a in rear of it topass it and then resuming its normal position behind that pin andholding it and the gear E from any backward position. After the wheelGhas passed over the toggle the spring F withdraws the pawl F, which isreset by means of the spring 6, ready to operate the switches 21 22again when the toggles F are depressed by the wheel G upon the nexttrain. Each insulating-plate D carries upon its upper surface two setsof terminals. These terminals are located to engage the ends of theswitcharms 12 21 22, &c. The switch-box l is constructed in preciselythe same manner as the other switch-boxes above described, the onlydiiference between this switch-box and the other switch-boxes in thesystem being that it lacks one of the studs 0 and one of the gears c,with its support and operated switch.

The circuit connections are shown fully in the diagrams Figs. 7, 8, 9,and 10, where there is also shown the etfect of the travel over the lineof two cars H H, the latter'car being shown only in Figs. 9 and 10. I

Referring first to the double switch-boxes, one terminal l 7L2, Z 72.and l h" of each set is a segment comprising an arc of about ninetydegrees. Segments Z Z and Z are connected the ends of thesegment-terminals.

by wires g (1 and Q respectively, with the trunk-line Q, running to thegenerator P,

this being a preferred means of connecting each switch with thegenerator, while 7712, h and h, as well as the segment h of box 1, iseach permanently connected with one of the third-rail sections B B B andB by means of wires 19 19 p and p, respectively. It is evident, however,that this segment may be dispensed with and connection made directlywith the switch-stud C. The other two terminals of each set, m M, 7' m nj m n, j 70 are merely contact-points arranged, respectively, at aboutninety degrees from The terminals j k of box 1 and m n of box 2 areconnected, respectively, by bus wires J K, the bus-wires J K and J Kconnecting corresponding terminals of box 2 and 3 and 3 and 4,respectively, the bus-Wires J K running to the next box in the system.(Not shown.) The generator P is also connected by a wire P with thetrack-rails A A. As has been stated above, the purpose of this mechanismis to throw in circuit only that section of the third rail upon whichthe car is about to enter and over which it is to pass. It is to beunderstood that the car is provided with a motor and mechanism adaptedto take its current from the third rail and complete the circuit throughthe track-raiis A A. Such mechanism is not illustrated, as it is nowwell understood in the art. Prior to starting the car the switch 12, asshown in Fig. 7, is in position at right angles to that shownnamely, sothat it connects the segment h with the terminal 7c, so that no currentcan possibly pass through the bus-wire J. As the car H is about tostart, however, this switch 12 is thrown by hand or by any convenientmeans for the purpose into the position shown in Fig. 7, thus completingthe circuit from the generator P through the trunk-line Q, wire gsegment 1*, switch 21, terminal m bus-wire J, terminal j, switch 12,segment h, wire p to the third-rail section B, thence through the car tothe trackrails A A, and back by wire P to the gener: ator P. When thecar has reached the end of the section B, its switching-wheel G strikesthe toggles F depressing them and operating the switch-box 2 in themanner above described, so that each switch 21 and 22 is turned throughan angle of ninety degrees, being then set in the position shown in Fig.8. It will be seen that the switch 21 being thrown from the terminal mto the terminal n has broken the circuit through the wire J, while theswitch 22 has moved to the terminal 70 thus completing acircuit from thetrunk-line Q through thewire g segment Z switch 31, terminal m bus-wireJ terminal j switch 22, segment h wire 19 to the second section B of thethird rail, thence through the car and track-rails, as before, to thegenerator through the wire P. In like manner as this IIO switches 31and32into the position shown in Fig. 9, thus breaking the circuitthrough the bus-wire J and completing a circuit of the same character asbefore through the busline J In the meantime the car H is to be started,and for this purpose the switch 12 is again thrown by hand as before,this time into the position shown in Fig. 9, and the circuit is nowcompleted not through the busline J, but through the bus-line K, thecurrent passing from the generator through the trunk-line Q, wire (1segment Z switch 21, terminal n bus-wire K, terminal k, switch 12,segment 71, wirep to the section B, thence through the car H to thetrack-rails, and thence by the wire P to the generator. Upon passing offfrom this section the switchthrowing mechanism of switch-box 2 isoperated automatically, as before, to throw the switches 21 and 22 intothe position shown in Fig. 10, thus breaking the circuit through thebus-wire K and making a circuit through the third rail 13 as follows:from the generator P through the trunk-line Q, wire (1 segment Z switch31, terminal 71 bus-wire K terminal switch 22, segment 77, wire 19 tothe third-rail section B and thence through the car and back by thetrack-rails, as before. It seems unnecessary to describe these circuitsany further. By the use of two buswires, a set of terminals at each endof these wires, and two sets of switches it will be seen that the twobus-wires are used alternately and that the switch in one switch-box isturned to make the circuit, the circuit being broken at the proper timeby the turning of the switch in the next switch-box, and each car as itpasses from one section to the next throws two switches, one of whichbreaks the circuit through the bus-wire which has supplied current, theother making contact with the other bus-wire, so that that wire is incondition to be utilized by the following car when the switch at theentering end of the section has been thrown, and at the same timethrowing the switch belonging to the section to make connection throughone of its bus-wires.

I have shown in Fig. 2 a similar construction of switch-box except thatin this case the pawl, although it slides horizontally, is operated by apull caused at the proper time by the exciting of an electromagnet. Thepawl is marked R and instead of pushing one of the pins c its end ishook-shaped, as shown at 'r, so that it engages one of the pins andpulls it to turn the gear E the proper distance, a holding-pawl beingprovided similar in character to the pawl e but differently located inthe switch-box, as will be readily understood. The outer end of thesliding pawl R is provided with an armature R within the control of anelectromagnet R which is excited through a wire a, which connects withthe track-rails, and also through a wire I), which connects with abutton or short section b of the third rail. Each button b is locatedbetween adjacent ends of two third-rail sections, and as the trolleyshoepasses across from one excited section it bridges the insulation oropening between that section and the button 6, thus connecting. thisbutton with the said excited section. A divided circuit is thus made forthe in stant through theelectromagnet R exciting it and causing it toattract the armature and give the necessary movement to the switches inthe switch -box, thus bringing the next section of the third rail intocircuit and breaking the circuit in the section over which the shoe hasjust passed. A spring r serves to withdraw the pawl B when it isreleased by the electromagnet. It is of course understood that thiscircuit is only formed for the instant while the shoe is passing overthe button b.

As stated above, while Ihave thus shown what seems to me the best andsimplest mode of accomplishing the desired result-namely, throwing thethird rail into circuit by means attached to the car cooperating with aswitchthrowing means which will not only close the new circuit but breakthat which the train is leavingI do not mean to limit myself to theexact mechanism above described nor to the use of two switches operatingin the same section to throw alternately oneor the other of twobus-lines into circuit, forit is well known that in allblock-signalsystems a signal is set at danger as a train enters upon a section andas the train leaves the section the same signal is again set at safetyand a fresh signal set at danger. By similar means it will be easilypossible by substituting a switch suitably connected for the signal toclose the circuit through a section and when a train is leaving asection to open the switch again. The description which I have given,however, in detail and the mechanism which I have shown in the drawingsenables the track to be used at all times and in either direction withbut little complication of circuits or mechanism, and hence I prefer theform of invention which I have fully described above.

It will be seen that there is, in fact, a pair of switches for eachthird-rail section, one located at each end of the section, onepermanently connected to the trunk-line, and one to the third-railsection, the two being in different switch-boxes and being operated bydifferent mechanisms, each switch-box containing a switch mechanism,onerelement of which belongs to one third-rail section and the other tothe next third-rail section.

In the above description I have used the track-rails for what may betermed a return-circuit, such being the simplest ,mode ofmakingconnection between the generator and the motor on the car. I do notmean, however, to limit myself to this form of return-circuit. It isevident that in the use of the system above referred to it is importantthat a second train shall not enter upon a third-rail section until theprevious train has IIO left it, as by so doing it would throw theswitches and break the circuit already made through the section alreadyoccupied. It is therefore desirable that proper signals shall be placedfar enough from the end of each section to enable a train to be stoppedbefore reaching the next section.

While I am aware that the system above described is not broadly new, thepractical value of such a system must depend largely upon the simplicityof its switch connections,

and my present aim has been that the termi nals at the switch shall beso simply planned and so placed that each switch when making contactwith the given bus-wire shall always make contact with the same terminalthereof.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. A switch-box provided withtwo'rotatable switches located in proximity, each switch WM. A. P.WILLARD, JR.

Witnesses:

J. D. GILLETT, J r., THOS. F. SHIELDS.

